


my tongue dances behind my lips for you

by AthenaxVio



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: Angel!Green, Estranged Siblings, Fallen Angel!Shadow, Forbidden Romance, Green is actually called Link for this, M/M, Polyamory, Protective Siblings, Slow Burn, but he gains the nickname eventually, fallen angel AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-07-10 07:33:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15944699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AthenaxVio/pseuds/AthenaxVio
Summary: This fire rising through my being/ Burning I'm not used to seeing you / Flyleaf - All Around Me





	1. why must we fall apart to understand how to fly?

**Author's Note:**

> Also I forgot and im sorry but i would very much like to dedicate this whole thing to Kaenith, who listened to me rant at them about this au probably very late at night almost 5 months ago  
> and for Red and Blue's mutual boyfriend Green (hell yeah, polyamory)

_As much as it hurts,_

_Ain’t it wonderful to feel?_

_So go on and break your wings_

_Follow your heart 'til it bleeds_

_As we run towards the end of the dream_

 

Evanescence - End of the Dream

* * *

 

It’s storming outside.

 

His eyes are closed and he’s falling, down, down through the air. He feels this happening even as he doesn’t, disconnected from the body that he can’t see because he can’t open his eyes, can’t see can’t feel can’t know-

 

Something’s missing and he doesn’t know what it is- doesn’t know if he should be looking for it because he doesn’t know what it is-

 

Pain flares white-hot across his back, searing, scorching, branding- he hears himself scream in agony.  
  
Still falling.   
  
He opens his eyes.   
  
Feathers spiral into the air around him, clouding his vision, their downy white a stark contrast to the turbulent black sky. He turns his face away from the sight to find turbulent black waves fast approaching.   
  
_From chaos unto chaos,_ he thinks, and he hits the water.

* * *

 

Vio wakes up with a jolt. Thunder rumbles outside the walls of his room, accompanied by the muffled pattering of rain against the house walls. Dim gray light filters through a crack in his curtains. The red light of his clock glares at him as if to say  _It’s only four in the morning, what are you doing up?_   
  
He groans, turning to rub his face into his pillow. Sweat beads on the back of his neck, soaks through the back of his shirt. He sighs, roughly, and peels himself out of bed, stumbling on sleep unsteady feet as he walks to the kitchen.   
  
The light is on in the living room, and his brother is fast asleep on the couch, still wearing the typical button-down and slacks uniform of the diner he works at. Vio pulls a blanket from the armchair and throws it over him as he passes. Blue doesn’t move an inch except to breathe.

 

 _Must have been a busy night at the diner,_  Vio thinks with a yawn.  _He’s gonna be annoyed at himself for sleeping in his work clothes._

  
Gray light shines through the sliding glass door, casting rain speckled shadows across the dining table. Vio pulls a cup down from the kitchen cupboard and fills it with water, sips at it as he slides the door open. The warm muggy air of a late summer storm curls around him like steam; he closes his eyes and lifts his face into the feeling. Waves crash against the shore down the hill and the sound of rain rings crystal clear in his ears.

 

He takes a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the sea, and opens his eyes again.  
  
A sliver of white moonlight breaks through the clouds, lighting up a figure that’s dragging themself out of the churning sea and onto the beach.

 

Vio glances back at Blue, still dead to the world from his perch on the couch, and then back at the figure before stepping outside.

* * *

 

Salt is all he can taste. It’s in his mouth, in his eyes, in his hair, burning his  ~~wings~~ wounds and if he had breath to do so he’d be yelling at the heavens for the irony of the joke. The surf pounds at his body, threatening to drag him back in and he would let it if it wouldn’t please the ones who cast him down.  
  
He throws up another mouthful of ocean at the thought. There’s a dull roaring in his ears, and a warm wetness on his back and a weakness to his whole body that he loathes with every passing moment as he struggles to pull himself further onto the sand.

 

“Hey!” A voice calls out to him, and it takes all of his strength to look up.

 

They stare at each other then, he and the stranger, frozen in place. He knows those eyes.

 

He would never…  
  
Forget.   
  
He collapses into the sand, eyes squeezed shut in agony. Everything hurts, it  _burns_ , it-

 

It-

 

Shadow forgets.

 

Someone is brushing the hair out of his face, speaking to him, but his own words don’t come easy.  Their hand is cool against his skin- he didn’t even know he was overheated.

 

“-Can you hear me?” The voice is male, and he’s lifting him up from the sand, cool hand pressed against his chest. Shadow tries to reply again and all that comes out is a broken groan. He can’t find the strength to look up at the stranger.

 

“You’re hurt. Can you walk?” He asks, and Shadow cracks his eyes open, assessing himself. Slowly, he nods, and then the stranger is helping him to his feet.

 

He’s unsteady, but he stands, even if he’s leaning heavily on the stranger. His arm circles around Shadow’s back, carefully avoiding his wounds.  
  
_If I knew who you were I would kiss you_ , Shadow thinks, his head pressed into the stranger’s collarbone.

 

They start forward, up a stone pathway- it’s smooth and almost slippery beneath his feet. It’s only then that he realizes that he’s walking and he’s never done that before and he nearly pulls both himself and the stranger down several times going up these steps. Whoever he is, he’s patient with Shadow all the while. He really does reckon he could kiss this person. Wet stone turns to dry wood planks, and then dry tile, and the stranger eases him into a chair. Shadow sits down heavily, his limbs numb.

 

Water drips onto the floor.

 

Blood does too.


	2. these bright lights have always blinded me

_ So many _

_ Bright lights, they cast a shadow _

_ But can I speak? _

_ Well is it hard understanding _

_ I'm incomplete _

_ A life that's so demanding _

_ I get so weak _

_ A love that's so demanding _

_ I can't speak _

 

My Chemical Romance - Famous Last Words

* * *

 

Blue jolts awake, cursing, and unceremoniously falls off the couch. He’s wet and cold and shivering and still in his  _ goddamn work clothes _ and he looks up to see Vio standing over him with a cup.

 

“What the fuck-” is all he can say before Vio interrupts him.  
  
“I’m sorry- I need your help.” He’s breathless, and dripping water all over Blue’s nice clean carpet, and there’s a dark stain coating his right side that gets Blue’s attention immediately.  
  
“Are you hurt?” He asks, standing up as quickly as possible and scanning him over for injury. Sand cakes Vio’s feet and legs up to the hem of his boxers and Blue has half a mind to scold him for going to the beach alone, at night.  
  
“It’s not mine.” Vio says, and points.  
  
There’s a stranger in their kitchen. Worse, there’s a stranger slumped over their kitchen table, wearing some sort of tattered tunic, dripping water and sand on the floor, and bleeding from two long gashes that stretch from his shoulder-blades to his mid-back. Blue’s mouth hardens into a grim line.

 

They both rush to the stranger’s side, and while Blue turns on the kitchen light, Vio coaxes him into sitting up. The gashes are more shallow than they look, to Blue’s relief.    
  


“Go put some dry clothes on.” Blue orders. Vio looks up at him, brow furrowed, mouth open to protest. “And get him something to dry off with.”

 

Vio leaves and Blue narrows his eyes at the stranger before fishing the first aid kit out from under the sink. He hasn’t lifted his head at all and his eyes are closed, but he’s breathing.  
  
Blue counts that as a good sign.  
  
“Who fucked you up?” He asks gruffly, dousing a cloth with antiseptic. There’s no response. “I’m gonna have to clean out these wounds. Nod if you understand.”  
  
A beat later the stranger shudders, and nods. He tries to be gentle as he cleans out the gashes- _they must be pretty recent-_ but there’s only so much he can do. The bleeding has to stop next, although it’s gone down to a trickle by the time he’s done. The stranger hunches in over himself.

 

Vio’s back, in dry clothes and with a towel that he kneels in front of the stranger with, wiping away water and sand with methodical precision.

 

“You going to explain this?” Blue asks, pulling out gauze and bandages.  
  
“He was dragging himself out of the surf. I don’t know how he got there or what happened to him.” Vio replies. He sounds defensive, and Blue can’t even begin to guess why.  
  
“I’m not blaming you-”  
  
“You sound like it-”  
  
“I was just asking!” Blue snaps, glaring over the stranger’s shoulder and Vio returns it with one of his own. 

 

The stranger hasn’t moved through all of this, just letting them gripe at each other over him. Blue sighs sharply through his nose and starts wrapping his wounds. His fingers brush against his skin and he can feel how feverish he feels, and his frown deepens.  
  
Vio stands up before he can say anything, marching over to fill a glass with water and marching back to kneel in front of the stranger again, gently coaxing him to drink.

* * *

 

Everything has settled into a dull throbbing and now Shadow just feels overly hot. There’s a second stranger now- he can’t see him but he can hear him, voice gruff and deep and hard with something Shadow can’t place. It’s different from the first stranger and the same. Maybe they’re brothers? He doesn’t know, and can’t ask, his throat is so-

 

Cool, fresh, _ not salty  _ water flows past his lips, soothing his sore throat. He gulps it down and almost chokes.

 

“Sorry.” The first stranger murmurs, pulling the cup away from his lips. His hand is cupping the back of Shadow’s neck and Shadow can’t help but tilt his head back into it, cracking his eyes open to look at him.  
  
Something in him still recognizes this person. Looking at him grounds Shadow for some reason that he doesn’t understand and doesn’t know if he wants to understand. The world is blessedly still when he looks at him.

 

It’s never been still before.  
  
“My name is Vio.” He says, voice hushed like he’s sharing a secret. He brings the cup back to Shadow’s lips and he drinks slower this time, eyes downcast. “Can you tell me yours?”  
  
He hesitates. The second stranger finishes bandaging his wounds. He hears him stand up and walk away. 

 

Vio sets the glass on the table.

 

“Shadow.” Shadow murmurs. His voice is not hushed- it’s strangled and wispy, barely there. 

 

Just like his name. 

* * *

  
  


Shadow refuses to let Blue help him to the guest bedroom. He refuses to let Blue help him into clean clothes, too, so Vio has to do it. It’s not the worst thing he’s ever had to do- whoever he is, Shadow’s at least a _somewhat_ functional adult. At the very least, he’s capable of mostly doing it himself, as long as Vio helps him to stand.  
  
He can’t help but wonder what his story is.  
  
“We should get him to a hospital in the morning.” Blue says to Vio when he walks into the kitchen to refill the glass of water for Shadow. “Or rather, the afternoon.”  
  
Vio looks at his brother, on his hands and knees, scrubbing at the floor with a sponge. He looks exhausted and weary, and Vio can’t help but feel a twinge of guilt. 

 

“Do you think it’s necessary?” He asks finally. Blue shrugs in response.

 

“Somebody could be looking for him.” Blue replies. “If not, he should have those gashes looked at by a professional. I’m not a miracle worker.”

 

Vio goes quiet at that, staring out the still open door at the sea. The moonlight is gone.

 

_ The figure coughs up seawater as Vio makes his way towards him. He can see from the way he’s hunched over that he’s in pain. The moon shines on him like a spotlight, reflecting off his skin. _

 

_ Stark white- black- red- twin marks torn into flesh and Vio calls out to him and he looks up. _

_ His eyes are red reflective like a cat’s and they stare up at him, twin embers in the night and the world goes still. _

 

_ It’s never been still before. _

 

_ Twin marks, twin embers. _

 

_ He falls to the sand. _

 

“Fair enough.” Vio says, and walks back to Shadow’s room.

 

Shadow sleeps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where am I going with this? WHO KNOWS!!!


	3. and so the broken record plays

_The tragic comedy divine_

_Paints the way to peace of mind_

_Leaving shallow lovers far behind_

_Past uncertainties combine_

_Bringing tears to sleepless eyes_

_Memory runs the course of time_

_Blood runs cold beyond_

_The violet prison for violent visions_

 

The Birthday Massacre - Violet

 

* * *

 

Shadow sleeps for three days. On the third, when he wakes, it is late and dark.

 

The storm has stopped.

 

It’s difficult to explain what it is like to go from knowing everything and everywhere at once to not knowing it all. Once, he could- see the cosmos churning through the cloudiest skies, hear the sounds of dew dripping off of leaves from the other side of the world, feel the slightest change in temperature, the rumbling and creaking of the earth, taste the ozone in the air after a summer storm, smell the ever turning cycle of life and death, growth and decay-

 

He breathed in and the universe breathed in with him.

 

Now?

 

Silence.

 

_It’s deafening._

 

Shadow rises from the bed. His legs wobble under weight he’s not used to carrying- after all, who needs to walk when you have wings? Everything aches, but nothing is scorching anymore.

 

“Oh! You’re awake.” Vio stands in the door of his room, holding what looks like a bowl of soup. “I was...just going to wake you up actually.”  
  
Shadow rubs the back of his neck and sits back down on the bed with a bounce.

 

“How long was I out?” He asks, staring at his knees. He’s wearing soft, loose pants patterned with cartoony fish. It would be embarrassing if he weren’t already experiencing humiliation of the highest form. Vio doesn’t seem to notice though, and he carefully hands Shadow the bowl as he sits down next to him.  
  
“Three days, including the day I found you.” Vio replies. “Blue’s boyfriend came over and made the soup.”

 

The spoon has made at least five trips to Shadow’s mouth at this point, and he pauses.  
  
“Blue?” He looks at Vio, arching a thin eyebrow.  
  
“My brother? He patched you up.” Vio raises both his eyebrows in reply. Two can play at this game, apparently.

 

Shadow cracks a smile.

 

“Thank you.” He says, and Vio gives him a tentative smile in return. His hands wring the hem of his shirt, drawing Shadow’s attention to them. The soup bowl warms his own hands.

 

“...What happened to you?” Vio blurts out, stilling. Shadow looks up to see crystalline eyes wide and a lower lip being bit and something in his chest squeezes.

 

He turns his gaze to the bowl, staring at it as if it could solve his problems. _It solves at least one of them,_ he thinks, eating a few more bites. Moving his arms pulls the muscles in his back, pulls the wounds where his wings used to be, but it doesn’t really hurt anymore. It’s like a scab on an elbow- strange, stiff, but not painful to move.

 

He heals faster than this, usually.

  
  
“I fell.” Shadow says simply.

 

“You...fell. From where?” Vio sounds skeptical and Shadow guesses that’s fair. He must not have seen him fall.

  
  
“The sky.” He deadpans, forgoing the spoon entirely and slurping from the bowl. It’s rude, he knows, but he’s hungry and eating with a spoon is too slow for his growling stomach.

 

He’s definitely not trying to avoid the questions. Definitely.

  
  
Vio laughs, a short, nervous, fluttery sound. “I suppose there’s not much else you could fall from, given that the furthest cliffs are three miles away.” He pauses, Shadow swallows. “Did you….jump out of a plane or something?”

  
“No.”

  
  
“...Then how did you get in the sky?”

 

Shadow knows how mortals are, especially in this so-called modern era. Only the discovery of thousands of fossils convinced these people that long ago, monsters roamed Hyrule. Superstition had been squashed by science. Only a show of magic could convince them that something supernatural existed.

 

The goddesses had long since forbidden them from interacting with mortals. And even though he’d been banished, cast down from his place in the sky, and the rules probably didn’t apply to him anymore…

 

It was better to be safe than sorry.

 

* * *

 

Instead of answering him, Shadow shrugs and stands up. He immediately wobbles on his legs and Vio rises to support him, an annoyed frown on his face.

  
  
“I don’t appreciate you avoiding the question.” He says, somewhat to himself but mostly to Shadow, who doesn’t reply. “I’m trying to make sense of what happened to you, so we know what to tell the doctors.”

  
  
Shadow jerks away from Vio, tumbling to the floor in his haste. Vio kneels to help him back up, and he slaps Vio’s hand away hard enough to sting.

  
“I don’t need a doctor.” Shadow growls.

  
  
“Don’t be daft- my brother isn’t a miracle worker and those wounds on your back looked pretty severe.” Vio glares at him sternly. “Besides, someone could be looking for you.”

  
  
Shadow’s eyes burn like embers, and Vio feels his breath catch. The hair on the back of his neck stands up on end and he’s aware, once again, that he knows nothing about this stranger. Nothing about where he came from, how he got here, who he is besides his name, what happened to him- Vio doesn’t know.

 

He could be dangerous. He feels dangerous now, glaring at Vio with hell-touched eyes and a set jaw.

  
  
Then, just as quickly as Shadow started glaring at him, he stops. His face settles into blankness, like stone, and then he turns away.

 

“No one is looking for me.” He says, with an air of finality that is palpable.

  
  
“Why would no one be looking for you?” Vio frowns, but doesn’t reach out to touch him again.

 

“I broke rules. I wasn’t good enough for them-” A note of bitterness enters Shadow’s voice, turning it harsh. “I dared to have a consciousness, to want free will, to-”

 

He pushes himself to his feet, and Vio rises with him, reaching out to steady him without thinking about it. Shadow shrugs him off and shoves the bowl back into his hands.

  
  
“I’m going back to sleep.” He says without even glancing at Vio. “Goodnight."

 

* * *

 

Blue stares at the suds rising up to his elbows as he scrubs at the dinner shifts piles of dirty dishes. His back and feet hurt from standing for so long, his hands have long since gone wrinkled from soaking in soapy water. He would rather be waiting tables than this- at least the din of the dining room and the rude customers grating on his nerves would distract him from his thoughts.

 

Dishes leave him with nothing _but_ his thoughts. Cleaning is normally therapeutic for him, but now the rhythmic, practiced motions only aid his anxiety. Red and Vio can take care of themselves, he knows, but the stranger worries him.   
  
The stranger more than worries him, if he’s being honest with himself. Blue was always one to follow his instincts and the moment Vio pointed at the stranger- _Shadow_ \- leaning in a bloody mess over their kitchen table every fiber of his being screamed that something was wrong.

 

Something was very wrong.  
  
“Hey- you good man?” Pipit’s voice jolts Blue out of his reverie and the plate he was washing nearly slips out of his hands. He shakes himself and glances at the freckled face of his coworker.  


“You’ve been washing the same plate for the past two minutes.” Pipit points out, and Blue looks down to see that yep, this one’s definitely done. He sighs, setting it aside and drying his hands on the towel hanging from his apron.  
  
“I’m just tired, I guess.” Blue mutters, turning to lean against the sink and scrubbing his palms across his eyes. “Keep falling asleep on the couch after these late-ass shifts and it’s not the most comfortable thing.”  
  
Pipit chuckles at that, moving to take his place at the side of the sink. “Today’s your lucky day then- Kina says you can leave early tonight. We’re overstaffed, surprisingly.”   
  
Blue frowns. “You sure? Vio’s not expecting me home until-”  
  
“You’ve been here since ten, man, legally we can’t keep you longer than you’ve already been here.” Pipit gives him a sympathetic look, reaching up to pat him on the shoulder. “Clock out, go home, get some rest. Look after your bro.”

 

Gratefulness washes over him like a wave, and Blue gives him a tired smile before walking over to the employee closet, untying his apron as he goes. Kina waves at him as he clocks out, and he nods at her.

 

It’s quiet sitting in his car, quiet and still. Blue groans at the releasing of sore muscles, the deep ache in his back from standing for so long.

 

Silence.

 

For the first time all night, he feels his head throb with a headache suppressed by the autonomy of working for hours.

  
  
The wrongness he’s felt since Shadow showed up weighs on him, furrows his brow and tenses his shoulders the whole way home.


End file.
